WIESBADEN (Germany), Jan 30: Germany will “apply pressure through every channel” to get Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to cooperate with the UN weapons inspectors and avert a war, Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said on Thursday.

“We are going to apply pressure through every channel so that he cooperates better with the inspectors,” Schroeder said at an election rally in the western state of Hesse.

“It troubles me when some act as though war is not a last resort but a normal method,” he said, adding that it “is not the case and must not become the case in Germany.”

“I will keep working so that this conflict can be resolved by peaceful means,” particularly by working closely with our partners to ensure that the weapons inspectors are given more time, Schroeder said.

Earlier on Thursday, Germany urged its EU partners to implement the common position on Iraq after an open letter from eight European leaders — but not those in Paris and Berlin — backing the United States.

“The strength of the Union is in its common position,” government spokesman Bela Anda said in a statement.

DUTCH PM: Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende turned down an offer to join other European leaders in signing a letter backing US President George Bush’s stance on Iraq, a government spokesman said.

Balkenende rejected an offer to join eight other European leaders in signing a letter published in a dozen newspapers which insisted Iraq disarm because “its weapons of mass destruction represent a clear threat to world security”.

“What we are aiming for is one European voice and we are trying to achieve that by bridging gaps.’’—AFP/Reuters